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< May, 2001 >
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Why Jesus Had to Die Part IIIn the Civil War, Jefferson Davis had to flee from Richmond, from the force of the oncoming troops. When Davis left, he took with him three wagon loads of Confederate money that were later captured by a handful of Union soldiers. That night, tired, hungry and cheerless, the soldiers decided to play poker with the Confederate money for $100,000 per game. That is the way it is with the world-one great hustle for worthless tender. Jesus came to say, "Look! You're missing the reason why you were created. You're wasting your life." At that, the world looked up from its poker game. One player took a black cigar out of his mouth, pulled out a gun and shot Jesus dead. It is dangerous to utter His truth in the world. His truth says that, in order to recognize God's sovereignty, men and women must give up their own. You either accept the truth or you kill it. Truth was crucified on Calvary. Truth was placed in the tomb. And when Christ got up and walked, His truth was loosed on the world, where no cross will ever stop it. Jesus had to die because love cannot stand in the face of aloofness. "'Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are My friends . . ." (John 15:13-14). A while back, I talked to a man on the phone who didn't want his daughter to marry the man of her choice. He said, "I'll] tell you what, if she marries him, she will no longer be a part of my family." I said to the man, "There isn't anything that my daughters could do that would cause me ever, ever to say anything like that." He said, "Don't get me wrong, I love my daughter." I had to say, "No, you don't. What you're saying is that you will love her just so long as she does exactly what you want her to do." You have to check out love. If there is no expression of love, there is no love. A lot of things are defined by what they are; a few things are defined by what they do and love is one. Love is not just a word. Love must be expressed or it isn't love. At the cross, Christ came and He died . . . because of love. Jesus had to die because empathy cannot stand in the face of inaction. "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus came into the world as human flesh. He didn't just sympathize; He empathized with us in the place where we live.
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